Sunday, April 01, 2012

D. I. D. - Day 1

As is customary with Desert Island Disc I shall start with the earliest memory I have of listening to music. Indeed, so early is it in my musical memories that I only have fleeting glimpses of that time.

I would have been no more than three or four. My maternal grandparents still had their greengrocers shop in Hyde Park, Leeds. My mind remembers only two things about that shop. The first being that I would spend hours sat in the vegetable bins helping myself to fresh peas from the pod. The second is that on the landing upstairs was a tall gramophone unit. The turntable was on top with a cupboard underneath which held my grandparents collection of 78s. My favourite, one that my mother tells me was the only thing I wanted to listen to, incessantly, was Magic Moments by Perry Como. It was to this song that I first started singing. And annoyingly for those around me, that singing consisted of just the two words of the title. How delighted they must have been as I started my recital, for the first 5 seconds, and then I suspect the novelty wore thin very, very swiftly.

Born Pierino Ronald Como, he soon had the nickname Perry. This would have been his centenary birthday but he died in 2001, just short of his 92nd birthday. He was a remarkably successful career. One of Americas biggest recording and tv stars, you can read more here should you so wish.